In 2019, it had taken Scout twenty-one days to complete the bash. Our departure from La Paz had been delayed five days by weather but, even counting those days, my record for slow bashes only amounted to twenty-six days, twelve of which we had spent trapped in Turtle Bay. This year, we were at thirty-five days before we even left Cabo San Lucas for the second time. My friend, Blair, chided me about going for the big personal record.
We pulled up the anchor just after 8:00 and motored into the fuel dock in Cabo. We took on 750 liters of fuel and, with the collusion of the security guard, managed to pick up Carlos and Ruby. According to a marina tenant, only marina tenants were allowed to take on crew there. I think he was annoyed with us. Having given the fuel dock a large chunk of change, we felt justified in using their facility, but tried to be discreet.
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| Heading Out of Cabo San Lucas |
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| Cabo Falso |
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| Marina Relaxing |
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| Carlos and Ruby |
It was rough and noisy and I lay in my bunk, not sleeping a wink, but knowing I would be uncomfortable if I moved out into the salon to sleep on the settee.
June 23, 2020
I got up at 2:40, not having slept at all. I dressed, grabbed a 7 oz can of Diet Coke, and reported for my watch. All was quiet. The seas had abated to some degree as the wind dropped during the night. It wasn't terribly cold, but grew progressively wetter as dawn approached. By 6:00, it was too foggy to see. We were well inshore and all the traffic was passing outside of us. There was a constant parade of commercial shipping out in the shipping lanes, but we saw no one.
I made cocoa after Jack relieved me and shared a cup with him before retiring. The fog obscured the dawn, so I went below after finishing my mug of cocoa. I slept on the settee for nearly four hours and felt much better for it.
Everyone on deck was asleep when I got up at 10:00. Leslie went up to keep watch and I made one-eyed Jacks for breakfast. Then I opened up my computer to write for a bit. We were passing Bahia Santa Maria when I went back on deck in the afternoon but were too far offshore to see more than hazy shapes. The sun had burned off the fog and the afternoon was pleasant enough. We were making nearly six knots.
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| Bahia Santa Maria in the Mist |
Ruby wasn't feeling well and slept most of the day. I chatted with Carlos for an hour or so and then he, also, took a snooze. I sat up in the cockpit until dinnertime while everyone else slept or entertained themselves below. Leslie came up about six to watch out while I made arrachera tacos for dinner. Poor Ruby was hungry but not sure of her stomach. She took her dinner out to the lifelines, just in case. Even Marina was a little sick. She had, however, killed the escaped roach and had proudly displayed the carcass on Carlos and Ruby's bunk.
I retired to my cabin after dinner, watched an episode of Netflix, and went to sleep. Remarkably, it was calm enough that I was able to sleep comfortably in my cabin.
June 24, 2020
I got up again for my 3:00 watch. The hatch in my cabin had leaked and dripped onto the clothes I had set out to wear. I had to dig out dry clothes. Ruby was curled on the settee below and Carlos sacked out in the cockpit after I relieved him. Marina slept on top of Carlos until Jack got up to relieve me.
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| Carlos Sleeping in the Cockpit |
My watch was uneventful. The seas got a bit rougher but we were able to hold our course. One radar target remained five miles off our starboard side all night. We passed another vessel that did not appear on either radar or AIS.
The night was much dryer than the night before. When the dawn came, it was not obscured by fog. I made cocoa once Jack came on deck and sat up to drink it until the sun cleared the horizon. Then I returned to my cabin for a nap.
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| The Sun Clearing the Horizon |
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| Bucket Brigade |
Once again, I spent
the afternoon in the cockpit while everyone else napped. It got
rough just before dinner. Poor Leslie had a devil of a time cooking
and she and Jack were the only ones who felt like eating. Waves were
breaking over the boat and we were only making about three knots.
The hatch in my cabin leaked and so did the mast boot. The floor was
wet and everything felt damp. The head was wet, also.
I tried to sleep in my cabin after dinner, but we were slamming badly and I kept getting airborne. I lay there, getting dripped on, and tried to stay warm and rest.
June 25, 2020
I woke up about 1:30 when the wind shifted and we tacked. We had fallen off and were approaching the shore far to the east of where we were aiming, so we needed to sail west along the coast. The CO2 alarm in Leslie's cabin got damp after we tacked and the leak in the mast boot started to run in her direction. It began shrieking and I jumped out of bed to see what was happening. The five-gallon jugs of water had slid across the cabin and were wandering loose. I got up and stowed them under the dining table. Then I crawled back into my bunk to stay warm until 2:40 when I got up. Gradually, the seas abated. It wasn't bad at all by the time I came on deck at 3:00.
The morning was cool. Carlos and Ruby were sleeping below, so Marina was determined to sit in my lap. I got up every 15 minutes to have a look around and check the gauges. I disturbed her every time, but she kept coming back. She was warm and good company.
Soon after I took the watch, I started to see lights on shore. By 5:00, an offshore breeze kicked in and we had to tack again. Magic Carpet had no traveler, so the position of the boom was adjusted with the preventer. When we tacked, the preventer needed to be freed from a snatch block and hurled over the bimini between the mizzen and the main sheet where a second person would pull it through and attach it to the snatch block on the other side. I was attempting this process, solo, when Jack came up to assist me.
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| Jack and Marina on Early Morning Watch |
Jack was a little late reporting for his watch, but it didn't matter since I stayed up to watch the dawn, anyway. I was starving after having skipped dinner. I made Cream of Wheat and a cup of cocoa and then retreated to my cabin to nap.
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| Kelp Bed Outside Turtle Bay |
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| The Entrance to Turtle Bay |
When I woke up around ten, we were close to shore. We skirted along the coast, past kelp beds, until we finally reached the entrance to Turtle Bay. We dropped the hook just off the end of the pier, where the cell signal was strongest.
Enrique's brother, Ernesto, showed up, immediately, to offer to sell us fuel. We declined, but told him we would like a ride to town later. He informed us that only one of us would be allowed to go to shore.
Carlos figured that, being Mexican, he and Ruby could get away with going ashore. They took the dinghy and went to explore and buy motor oil. Someone (probably Ernesto) called the police who met them at the entrance to town. Carlos, who ran a trucking company and traveled all over Baja, showed them a copy of the decree from the governor opening all businesses at 30% capacity. He convinced the police to let them come ashore.
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| At Anchor Just Off the Pier in Turtle Bay |
I spent the afternoon practicing the guitar and drying out my cabin. Carlos and Ruby went back to shore to spend the night in a motel. I made pasta sauce and we had pasta for dinner and watched a movie. It was nice to be on a relatively stationary boat. The anchorage was so calm it felt like we were at the dock.
June 26, 2020
We had very little on the schedule for Friday so we slept late. I made banana pancakes for breakfast and Jack cooked a package of bacon. We lounged around the cabin until the early afternoon when Carlos and Ruby returned.
Jack and Carlos set about changing the oil. The oil had not been changed since Jack left San Diego in February and he had been to Zihuatanejo and back. We filled every available plastic bottle with filthy, black oil. Ruby assisted. There wasn't room for more people in the engine room, so Leslie and I were left to our own devices other than mopping up spilled oil now and then. Once the oil was taken care of, they tackled bailing the water out of the aft bilge. The leaky generator and engine hoses had filled a large compartment with seawater. The bilge was deep enough that Carlos could stand up in it. Once again, they formed a bucket brigade and passed the buckets of water up the aft companionway and over the lifelines. The water seemed endless. After dozens of buckets of water had been poured over the side, Carlos was finally able to see the broken bilge pump. Unfortunately, we did not have the proper spare. Replacing the pump would have to wait until Jack could locate a replacement in San Diego.
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| Carlos in the Bilge |
Carlos and Ruby had ordered some vegetable soup from Alicia at Tortugas Restaurant, so they took the dinghy back to shore, promising to return with the soup for dinner by 19:15. Annie Gardener, a Facebook friend of Jack's, pulled into the anchorage on the catamaran El Gato. Jack hailed them on the radio and, after they got the hook down and bought some fuel from Ernesto, she and her husband, Eric, came over for a visit. We chatted with them for a couple of hours and hardly noticed that Carlos and Ruby were late.
Once the whole crew was aboard, our guests departed and we began preparing dinner. Leslie had already made a salad. I fried up some plantains and Jack barbecued ribeyes. Carlos and Ruby contributed the soup. We all sat down to a lovely dinner around the salon table for the first time since they had joined us. It was tough to serve a family dinner underway since someone had to drive and, many times, no one felt like eating.
After dinner, we watched the movie, Closer, a movie that left us all feeling depressed about relationships. It was after 23:00 by the time the movie was over and we intended to rise at 6:00 the next morning. We all hurried to our bunks.
June 27, 2020
I got up at 6:00 as we had planned. No one else was stirring. I thought that making coffee might help, so I rattled around the galley, preparing coffee until Jack got up. We began preparing the boat to sail. There wasn't much to do. Leslie got up and squeegeed the windows in the dodger. I freed the main halyard. Leslie hauled up enough chain to release the snubber.
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| Dawn in Turtle Bay |
Once we had roused Carlos and Ruby, Carlos and Jack secured the dinghy. We raised the main and then attempted to weigh anchor. It was windy enough that the sail made it difficult to keep the boat square to the chain. I was relaying commands between the bow and the helm and Jack and Leslie squabbled about how to raise the chain. Finally, they managed to get the hook off the bottom and we got underway at 7:25. We motored out of the bay and headed towards Isla Natividad. The sun shone through the low overcast somewhere off in the distance.
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| The Sun Breaking Through the Clouds |
We motored all day. There was a fair amount of motion, but not a lot of wind. Magic Carpet did not have a traveler,so it was difficult to keep the boom centered. We rigged twin preventers and used those to center the boom as we motored straight into the wind. We passed a couple fishing pangas returning to Turtle Bay in the morning. It was chilly and overcast until about 15:00 and I mostly stayed below. When the sun came out, I went up into the cockpit and watched while everyone else napped.
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| The Improvised Traveler |
El Gato stayed just behind us all day. The clouds returned as evening fell. I stayed on deck until everyone had eaten leftover pasta for dinner and then went below for my share. After dinner, I watched a little Netflix and then tried to sleep. It wasn't rough, but there was enough motion to make the cables inside the mast clang incessantly. It was difficult to sleep.
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| Passing Isla Cedros |
June 28, 2020
I awoke about 1:15 and couldn't get back to sleep. It had finally sunk in that I was actually going home. I started thinking of all the things that I needed to do and my mind raced. I lay there, designing my front yard landscaping, until it was time to get up at 2:40.
I had on all my warmest clothes, so I was comfortable enough during my watch. It was dead calm and the seas were glassy. Marina was feeling very chipper and dashed around the boat, hopping out of the cockpit and even standing up to rest her paws on the rail. After retrieving her from the deck a few times, I put on her harness and tether. That way, I could keep her in the cockpit. Eventually, she got disgusted, climbed on top of Carlos, and went to sleep.
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| Our 3:00 AM Positiion |
Having crossed into the Pacific time zone, it got light much earlier. I started to see a hint of dawn at 4:30. It was fully light by the time Jack came on deck at 6:00. I made us hot cereal and stayed up to eat it. Then I went below to catch up on the sleep I had missed the night before.
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| Grey Dawn at 5:24 |
I got up again at 10:00 when the pitch of the engine noise changed. We had slowed down in order to take pictures of El Gato who, in turn, took pictures of us. We continued at a slightly slower pace so as not to arrive in Ensenada before daylight. It was overcast but warm. We hung out in the cockpit most of the day. Jack had eaten all of Carlos' Tootsie Rolls, so Carlos broke into the box of liquor filled chocolates from the bottom of the snack cupboard. Jack didn't drink and Leslie and I had left them alone. Once opened, however, we were happy to dig in.
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| Leslie with the Chocolates |
As the afternoon progressed, I found myself keeping watch while the others napped. This seemed to be our pattern. By 4:30, Jack got up and I went below to write before it was time to make dinner. I planned to make chicken and vegetable stew over rice for dinner and had an hour to kill before it was time to begin cooking.
I started cooking at 5:30. I made chicken and veggies in a tomatillo sauce and served it over rice steamed with peas and carrots. I sat in the cockpit and watched while the others ate. I'm not sure what Jack and Leslie thought, but Carlos and Ruby were very happy with the Mexican comfort food. I ate after the others and then went to bed.
The seas were so calm that I slept like a baby. I didn't wake until my alarm went off at 2:45 AM.
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| Marina Lounging in Her Harness |
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| Sunset South of Ensenada |
June 29, 2020
I came back on deck at 3:00. We were close to land and threading our way between fishing boats. We had about ten miles to go before we made a right turn into Todos Santos Bay between the point and the Todos Santos Islands.
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| The Lights of Ensenada |
Jack was getting nervous and joined me on deck about 4:00. We watched the lights of Ensenada grow larger. We turned into the bay about 5:30, just as it began to grow light. Two large freighters were anchored in the bay. We passed those and headed into Marina Coral, arriving by 7:00.
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| Carlos Approaching Marina Coral |
The rest of the day was mostly spent lounging and making travel plans. I bought a ticket to fly directly from San Diego to San Francisco. Buying a plane ticket was interesting. A last minute flight was $128 plus $30 each for my two bags. For an additional $30, I was able to upgrade to first class and got two free bags. It was cheaper to fly first class and I got a seat on the one seat side of the aisle where I would have no neighbor. I could never have gotten a first class ticket for $158 before the coronavirus.
My housemate didn't want to be in a car with me, masked or not, so I arranged for Matt to pick me up at the airport.
We left Carlos and Ruby alone in the boat and went to dinner at the hotel restaurant with Eric and Annie from El Gato. There were only three tables occupied. The menus were xeroxed and disposed of after use. The waiter wore a face shield and the food came under covers. Our meals were excellent. I splurged and drank two margaritas, one of which was tamarind and rimmed with Tajin. We had a delightful time but had to break up the party early because the restaurant closed at 20:00.
We returned to the boat to find Carlos and Ruby listening to country music in English. I found this humorous, since I generally listen to nothing but music in Spanish. We then got into a discussion about musical tastes and spent the rest of the night playing bachata songs that we all liked and singing along. It was a fun evening. We were glad to have the voyage behind us and looked upon our coming journeys with trepidation.
June 30, 2020
We had concocted a convoluted plan to get all of us and our belongings delivered to our respective homes. Carlos and Ruby would take the bus to Tijuana where Ruby would catch a flight to Mexico City to see her family. Carlos would pick up a truck that he had left in Tijuana and return the following morning to collect the rest of us. We would drive his truck to San Diego, where Jack was supposed to collect a second truck, leaving Carlos in Tijuana. I would be left at the San Diego airport to fly back to San Francisco. Jack and Leslie would then drive both trucks back into Mexico and return Carlos' truck to Tijuana. The second truck would be used to transport all their luggage to San Diego where a friend would collect Leslie to take her back to Marina del Rey. Very confusing.
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| Marina in Her Carrier |
Everything went smoothly, at first. Carlos and Ruby departed and Jack, Leslie, and I spent the day packing, cleaning up the boat, and relaxing. Marina checked out her new, space-age carrier backpack.
Leslie and Annie went to the fish market and I stayed behind to write. They Leslie, Annie, Eric and I had another dinner at the hotel restaurant, including more tamarind margaritas. It was a relaxing day.
July 1, 2020
Carlos arrived, as scheduled, at 7:00 AM. We all piled in the truck and headed for the fish market where Carlos wanted to buy shrimp. It took awhile to get everyone clear of the fish taco stands, but then we were on our way. Our first stop was Carlos' family home in Tijuana where we would leave him since he did not have a visa to enter the United States.
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| Steep, Narrow Street in Tijuana |
Carlos lived at the top of a very steep hill. All of the homes on the block were owned by relatives, which was a good thing because everyone had to move his or her cars before the person parked at the back could move. Jack, Leslie, and I remained in the truck while Carlos talked to his family and then Carlos backed us down the hill and drove us to a grocery store where we could use the restrooms. We parted at the grocery store. Carlos headed home and the rest of us departed for San Diego.
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| U.S. Border Traffic |
Crossing the border was easy. We had to wait in traffic for an hour, but the only things we had to produce at the border were our passports. No one asked us any health questions or took our temperatures. We drove from the border to the airport where I got out. Leslie and Jack would require more days and changes of plans before they got their belongings to their ultimate destinations but I had only to check my bags at the curb and walk through the empty airport to my gate.
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| San Diego Airport Security |
The airport was nearly deserted and only the news stand was open. I had to do without lunch because none of the restaurants were operating. My flight left at 3:00 and by 5:00 Matt was picking me up in San Francisco where the airport was also thinly populated. The flight had been reasonably full, but I had a first class seat on the single seat side of the aisle and no one on the aisle seat opposite. Everyone on the plane was masked and there was no drink service other than bottled water. It felt safe enough. I was glad to be done with traveling and ready to insulate myself in my new environment.
